Chapter 7- okay everyone, here's the rewrite of chapter 7, and I think I like it much better :-D thanks again for being so patient! REVIEW FRIENDS!
Jack was right.
Elizabeth retreated back into what would have been the day cabin for the commander of the ship, since this was a naval vessel. She could imagine perfectly the master and commander watching over things as the first and second watches switched places. This was a tiny ship, compared to most, twenty-four gun if she remembered right.
She wouldn't have ever admitted it to anyone, but the day the Interceptor arrived in Port Royal had been especially exciting for Elizabeth. She had read so many books about ships and such, but all she had ever seen was the Dauntless, which was heavily armed, but usually used for transportation rather than fighting. But then the day the Interceptor arrived in the small- but growing- port, she found herself facing a real-live battleship, rumored to be the fastest. But now look at it... infested with pirates.
But by god, was Jack right. The night came and went too quickly, and she found herself facing a day that was just too much for her to bear. She had remained alert most of the night, repeating over and over to herself, 'I kissed a pirate.' Sometimes wistfully, and sometimes disgusted, and when she wasn't dwelling on that, she was dreading what was surely to come the next day.
But now, the Captain was getting ready to go fight a battle that he could not win, and leaving her with a ship full of pirates she didn't quite trust. They all seemed to eye her sideways, their gaze slightly on guard and threatening. The woman pirate gave Elizabeth the chills, especially since she had put a gun to her head and threatened her up to the pirates fighting for her.
Ignoring the protests he was receiving from Elizabeth, Jack got into a dinghy and waited to be lowered into the waters that led into the caves of the Isle de Muerta. Once again, as she had done so many times already, Elizabeth broke free of the arms holding her and ran up to the boat to her hands on the side while pleading, "Jack- you can't go in there alone! They're all already dead! You can't kill them!"
The Black Pearl was still sitting in the cove that it was 'hidden' in, proving that Barbossa was inside. Jack was off to 'tie up loose ends'. "Yes, Miss Swann, I know. Now- off you go." He said taking her hands and prying them off the boat.
"No- Jack!" She belted and grabbed onto his arm, fisting the previously white fabric of his shirt in her small hand. "Whether the curse is lifted, they'll kill you!" She told him in a low tone, leaning in desperately to stare at him.
Jack's mostly hooded eyes did not change at her words. "I am Captain Jack Sparrow, lass," He told her in a low, raspy but knowing voice. "I have a plan, as always. Trust the pirate."
"You have a plan?" She asked in an even, but unbelieving tone. "To take on an entire crew of the most horrible, filthy-"
"Miss Swann, if you'd be so kind." She had heard those words before. So Jack did have a plan. That didn't mean she was going to let him walk into his own death trap.
"No! Jack I'm not letting you-"
"It's Captain to you, Missy, and now- ff you go." He said, his tone showing that he had running out of patience. "AnaMaria?" Jack said, and the woman came to grab Elizabeth's elbows and pull her back while the dinghy was lowered.
Ms. Swann gave Jack her most ferocious scowl for as long as she could see his face, but soon, he was gone.
"Come, Missy." AnaMaria said to Elizabeth and held her back gently, but strongly as Jack's boat was lowered and he rowed off.
"You just want Jack to perish." She said calmly, turning to the crew once AnaMaria let go of her. "I see through you all." Few of them bowed their heads, but most started back at her angrily.
"Jack has gone to do what Jack does. If he falls, he falls. It's the code." AnaMaria said.
Elizabeth's eyes widened. She didn't know that she was right in accusing the crew. "The Code?" She asked and scowled. "The Code!" She was nearly ready to tell these pirates just where to put that Code when a thought dawned on her.
"Well then... off to the Pearl!" She called and looked around. The crew before her was staring in wonderment. And they thought they could manage without Jack. "No one's on the Pearl- and if they are, then there's only but a few of them!" They still stared without any sign of understanding. "I myself have been inside those caves- they're all in there, save for probably two or three. Dead or not dead the lot of us must be able to figure out how to deal with such a small number!"
"So..." Gibbs started. "We're goin' to stroll over and... take 'er?"
"Exactly!" Elizabeth called and started towards the stairs. "But we should take some of the irons and cutlasses incase we need to bound them! They're below deck in the brig." She stopped on the second stair down and waved her arms, "Come you lethargic pirates!" She shouted hastily.
They followed her and went for the shackles and swords that were stored in one of the empty cells- the Interceptor had only taken her maiden voyage a few months ago, so the cells hadn't been used save for one stow-away drunkard. Elizabeth stood to the side and waved them all in to get their choice of weapon and chains, but when they turned from the piles with their arms full, the crew of Tortuga's craziest pirates were met with a locked cell and a missing governor's daughter.
Elizabeth quickly ran up the stairs with a smile or triumph on her face and made for the starboard side- the side facing the caves. It was a rather long way there, but she was sure she'd make it there to in time to help Jack. And she was sure to spend the entirety of her trip thinking of how she would do just that.
The rowing made her arms ache so, but she continued on because she knew that those caves weren't far off. In fact, she had been wishing the trip was longer the last time she was in a row boat in this waterway. She reached the end of the strait and the entrance of the cave to see Jack and Barbossa dueling fiercely. Elizabeth couldn't see any of the other pirates, and she knew there were at least three or four score of them on the ship- if not more. Will was fighting off three pirates on the other side of the cavern from the two captains.
"You can't beat me, Jack." She heard from the right, Barbossa impatiently waiting for Jack to give up.
Jack in turn stuck his sword into Barbossa's mid-section, and looked at it expectantly. Barbossa merely wobbled backwards from the force of the blow, but felt nothing, of course. He sighed, possibly thinking to himself that Jack could be quite dense at times.
"No Jack, guard yourself." Elizabeth whispered and grabbed onto one of the rather large rocks next to her.
Without any more hesitation, Barbossa pulled the sword out of his own stomach and punctured Jack's.
"Jack!" Elizabeth screeched, her voice echoing off of the walls. She sprinted out from behind the rock, but stopped short at Barbossa's pistol was aimed at her. At her yell, everyone's attention went to the fighting Captains, Will didn't pay much attention to Jack, but looked questioningly at Elizabeth, and Jack stumbled backwards. "No." She said, her voice just above a whisper.
This feeling was a new one for Captain Jack Sparrow. He was about to turn around and smile at Elizabeth, just to scare her, but instead decided to frighten Barbossa. He took a few more steps backwards and as the moonlight from above landed on his body, a disturbing sound was heard as his flesh disappeared and he appeared just as rotten as the rest of the crew he was against.
"What?" Elizabeth asked in a whisper, looking frantically back from Jack to Barbossa. His pistol had dropped from being aimed at her, so she took three large strides to the right and hid behind a rock.
Jack wore a skeleton-smirk as he held up one of his hands. "That's int'resting." He said off handedly and looked back to Barbossa, the medallion that he had stolen before clinking between his bony fingers as he toyed with it. "Couldn't resist, mate."
Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief as Jack removed his own sword from himself and began to fight once again. Footsteps from behind her brought Elizabeth back to where she actually was, in a cave of un-dead pirates with no form of protection. At the last second, she bent and picked up a vast scepter and swung it as hard as she could towards the pirate rushing towards her.
